Split Second
by Tantilla
Summary: Things come and go in the worst and best ways possible. TARUTORO
1. Prologue

Taruru doubled over, leaning against the wall and panting heavily, desperately trying to get air in to his lungs. He was tired and the air just wasn't coming fast enough. His world was spinning and he knew if he didn't start taking some deep breaths he would likely pass out.

He bent over, pushing on his stomach a bit and forcing himself to cough. It was hard at first, but once he started, he just continued to hack and cough for a good few minutes. He coughed to the point of gagging and there were several times when Taruru honestly thought he was going to throw up.

"_STUPID!"_

"_USELESS!"_

"_FISHFACE!"_

Those hurtful words rang loudly in Taruru's head. He reached up, wiping his already watery eyes and let out a shaky chuckle. He knew he couldn't go back to class now. Not only would he get in some serious trouble for running out of the room in the middle of class, but he would have to face the jerks who broke him in the first place. He just couldn't deal with that right now. Instead he just slumped against the wall, skidding down until he was seated on the floor. He took some deep breaths and let them out slowly. He wiped his eyes, trying to dry his face in case anyone should come by and see him sitting there.

Now that the world was considerable less blurry, he could see the deep scratches and pieces of gravel embedded in his knees and shins. He didn't know how many times he had fallen in the courtyard while he had been running blindly. At least two or three times on to the small sharp rocks and now he couldn't get them out. His hands stung and bled just as much as he legs, but at least there was no gravel lodged in to his palms.

Honestly he didn't care about the pain, just about the names and words he had been insulted with before he ran out of class. They made the tears roll down his cheeks faster than any wounds did. He couldn't ignore them no matter how hard he tried. God did he try.

Taruru gingerly ran his fingers over his knees, wincing at the stinging even the slight constant produced. It was disgusting, probably filled with germs by now. It was going to get infected, he was going to loose his legs. Taruru was already beginning to panic and slip in to one of his germaphobic fits. He needed disinfectant and band-aids. He knew where to get them, the nurse of course. He just really didn't want to make his 3rd trip to the nurses office in the last two weeks. Pururu would be so disappointed in him.

In the end his paranoia won over and he pushed himself up, heading down the hall towards where he knew the medical bay was located. He could deal with a bit of prodding from Pururu. He could use someone to talk to anyway. Someone to make the hurt go away.

* * *

**Alright. This is something i have been wanting to write for a while, but i have been putting it off in order to try and write State of Emergency. Well i have decided that i am going to put State of Emergency on hold until i get this done, cause i really wanna write this.**

**Sorry for any inconvenience.**


	2. Chapter 1

Taruru never knew how he got himself in to these situations. He was used to this though; sitting here in the nurses office, having someone tend to some injury he had gotten on the way over. He had been coming here in increasing frequency though. He didn't know if he should be disappointed with himself, or if that was to be expected when one of your only friends in the school was currently stationed there.

"You know you can't keep letting other people get to you Taruru." Pururu said quietly as she cleaned the scrapes on Taruru's knees and shins. He didn't say anything back to her, just sniffled and wiped his eyes. "...You know you can't keep running to me every time someone says something that hurts your feelings. You have to learn to stand up for yourself."

"I try Pururu! I really do, it's just so hard. What can I do though? I can't fight back, not like I want to anyway." Taruru whined. Pururu just shook her head.

"Then you find other ways to fight back." she said as she put a large Band-Aid over Taruru's knee. She wiped her hand off and looked over Taruru's face before sighing and cupping his face. "I know sweetheart. I know how hard it can be, but I also know someone like you can get through a few harsh words." She cooed.

Taruru scoffed. "How would you know? You're Pururu, little miss perfect. I bet you have never had a mean word thrown at you in your life."

"Nonsense, there are many cruel people in the world. I have had my fair share of bullies and tormentors. I just...have a bit more experience with people. I know how to connect better. You're young, you will learn." she smiled.

"I'm not that young..." Taruru huffed.

"Speaking of which, how are you adjusting? I know losing your tail can be a rather ah...disorienting for some people." She asked, motioning to Taruru's newly obtained adult features. He was a full-fledged frog now, and honestly he was proud to wear it.

"I keep falling down. I'm so off balance!" He grumbled.

"More so than usual? I suppose that's to be expected. I get lots of complaints about being thrown off balance for a few days by newly developed frogs." She said and stood back going to grab the paperwork that needed to be filled out.

"Well its stupid, I HATE it!" Taruru whined, hitting his fists against the bed he was on once, showing his frustration.

"Taruru, a month ago you were constantly whining, asking me when you would lose your tail. Now it's gone and it's been less than two days. You're already sick of it?" She asked.

"Well...I mean I was so excited because I was thinking 'hey, if I lose my tail this year, I will be able to show how I am older than all my other classmates!' and you know what? It happened. I thought they would respect me because I am an adult now, but they don't. They just mock me more; make fun of me for being old and stupid since I am still in the grade that I am..."

"Well you were held back a year, of course you're going to be older than them Taruru." Pururu said, putting the papers away and going to sit next to Taruru. "You're smart though, and I know you will make it to the end."

"It's not fair Pururu! I want to graduate with you! I had been looking forward to that one thing since I met you, but I fail one test and poof! That dream is gone!" He sighed and leaned over, resting his head on Pururu's shoulder.

"So we won't graduate together, it's not that big a deal. You know we will still talk every day. You act like I would forget about you." Pururu said.

"You WOULD." Taruru huffed. "You're going to be so busy with your fancy medical degree, fixing people up and stuff…"

"Oh hush. We still have a little less than 5 months till school is out. That's plenty of time to make plans for summer and the year after that." She said, smiling a bit and taking Taruru's hand, squeezing it a bit. "Everything will be just fine."

"You don't know that…When you're gone, I won't have any more friends here. None at all." He sighed, squeezing her hand right back. He always felt so much better around Pururu, and when she was gone he would have nobody to run to.

"Maybe you should think about trying to make some other friends. I'm sure you could if you really tried….and perhaps you should invest in some self-defense classes as well. I don't want you getting beaten up next year, especially when I won't be here to make it better for you." She suggested.

"Do you know how stupid I would look trying to fight a couple of bullies with self-defense moves? I would look so stupid…" Taruru mumbled.

"It doesn't matter how you look during the fight. It would keep you safe and that's what really matters. I just want you to be safe Taruru. You're so prone to accidents." She laughed quietly and reached up with her free hand to pinch Taruru's cheek. He couldn't help but smile as he swatted at her hand.

"I am not….Not as much as I used to be anyway." He declared, pouting a bit.

Pururu smiled and stood up, pulling Taruru to his feet as well. She was careful of the Band-Aids on Taruru's legs, making sure that they would stick. It had been fairly late in to class when Taruru had come to her, so she knew that the bell would be ringing soon to let them in to the halls, sending them to the last class of the day.

"I want to stay here with you Pururu." Taruru muttered.

"You know the nurse would never allow a student to stay in here for a class and a half for no real reason." Pururu shook her head a bit.

"You're a nurse though!" Taruru whined.

"No, I'm just a Nurse's apprentice. I have to graduate and get a job at a hospital before I can officially call myself a nurse." She smiled. "This is just my community service hours. You're going to have to serve at least 10 hours doing community service next year to Taruru."

"And they are letting you do your community service in the nurses office? Isn't that illegal or something?" Taruru asked, loving his legs back and forth, still feeling a bit of sting from the disinfectant on them.

"Hmm…Perhaps. It's not like I am distributing medicine or dealing with any serious injuries. I just keep the area clean and disinfected. I don't even work with the students." She explained.

"You're working with me." Taruru pointed out.

"Think of it as a helping hand from a friend, not from a nurse's apprentice." She smiled, winking at him. "Besides, the nurse is out at the moment, getting something from a teacher down in G hall. I couldn't just leave you sitting here with little rocks in your legs now could I?"

"Hehe, thanks Pururu. You're too good to me." Taruru smiled. He sighed, looking at the clock. The bell would ring any minute now. He glanced back at Pururu before reaching out and pulling her in to a hug. She hugged right back, holding him tightly in her arms and petting his back. The loud ringing of the bell ripped through the school a moment later, making Taruru jump. He really didn't want to go, so he hugged on to her just a bit tighter for a moment longer.

Pururu was the one who pulled away from the hug, smiling and papping Taruru on the cheek before pushing him towards the door. "Alright, you have to go now; I will see you after school has let out. Don't you be late for class, you hear me?!" She said sternly, laughing as Taruru waved her off a bit dismissively. He waved called out his goodbye over his shoulder and headed off down the hall.

* * *

There was little Taruru hated more than waiting outside the school mess hall for someone. It happened more often that he liked though, as he always managed to get there before Pururu got done with her nurse duties. At times he would wait anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour.

Just sitting there and waiting always made him a bit nervous. He always felt his most vulnerable when he was waiting for Pururu. She wasn't around to protect him and any one of his bullies could spot him and decide to have a bit of fun with him. He stood on one foot, then shifting to the other to keep himself moving. He just couldn't handle standing still for any amount of time over five minutes. He had to be moving, even if it was in place.

At about the twenty minute mark, Taruru began to get antsy. Pururu still wasn't here, and the halls had begun to get just a little more crowded for the after school activities. He looked down the hall both ways every few seconds, never catching a glimpse of Pururu. People were uncomfortably close to him, but Taruru really didn't care too much. Just as long as none of them decided to sneeze or cough on him, he would be fine.

It wasn't until he heard she shouts of some very familiar frogs did he really start to get worried. He didn't know that his tormentors came to stupid school events like this. Some swimming event, very popular in their school, but still. They just didn't seem like the type to care about anything that had to do with school.

Taruru decided that he had waited there long enough. He could go down and wait for Pururu at the nurse's office instead of at the front door. He didn't want to be here anymore.

When he tried to step out in to the crowd, maybe seeing if he could blend in, he was nearly knocked over by all of the people rushing by, trying to get in to the gym to see the event. He wobbled and latched on to the nearest person to him, only to get shoved off a moment later.

"Get off me fishface!"

Taruru landed hard, banging his head against a locker. He looked up at the person who had pushed him off, but he didn't recognize him. He was a big frog, towering over Taruru and glaring down at him. Worst of all; Taruru didn't recognize him. Why was he calling him fishface? Did EVERYONE in this school know him as the stupid kid with fishlips?

"I…I'm sorry…." Taruru mumbled, just loud enough for the bigger frog to hear, but it didn't seem like he cared much. He called out to someone down the hall, telling them to come look at this 'scrawny little leech' that had bumped in to him. He was joined by the tadpoles that had been harassing Taruru earlier.

Taruru was surrounded before he could even recognize what was happening. He pulled his knees up closer to his chest and glared up at them all.

"Hey flopper, what do you think you're doing here?" The biggest of the groupies asked. "I know you don't like swimming…I know you CAN'T swim."

"What kind of Keronian can't swim?!" A smaller one that was leaning over Taruru demanded. He promptly shut up when the leader of the group smacked his arm, telling him to shush up.

They watched Taruru, laughing when Taruru tried to scoot his way out of the circle of death he had been encased in.

"Awe, Fishlips is scared! Look at him trying to run. He's too afraid to fight us! USLESS! " They laughed, one of them kicking Taruru right on his butt as the Aqua frog managed to squeeze through their legs, making him yelp. They didn't want to keep him there, just harass him. Taruru ran through the crowd as best as he could, trying to ignore the shouts and jeers of his peers over the roar of the crowd as the swimmers took their position in the gym.

Once Taruru reached a hall that wasn't filled to the brim with rowdy tadpoles, he took off, running as fast as his little legs would carry him. Pururu had never shown up, so he figured that she could only be in the nurse's office. He would go there and wait for her to be done instead of suffering in the hallways. He could be patient, but not when he was being tormented.

Taruru only slowed down when he reached the door to the nurse's office. He was about to open it when he heard laughter from inside. Instead he stood on his tippy toes and peaked in the small window that the door had.

Inside the office, Pururu was kneeled down in front of some kid, wrapping something around his ankle. The nurse was supervising of course, giving her pointers. Taruru had seen the boy before. His name was Keroro, a good friend of Pururu's. Taruru didn't like him much though. He was kind of sleazy, and a slacker. He mooched off of Pururu more often than doing his own work, but Pururu always gave in and she seemed to enjoy his company. She had even at one point let Taruru on in a little secret, in which she told him about the crush that she had on Keroro. That had hurt Taruru, but not because he had any feelings for Pururu. No, they were only friends. He was just terrified of the idea that Pururu could possibly become more interested in Keroro than in him…That she could lose interest in him entirely.

He could have gone in, reminded her that he was here and that she should have been paying attention to him. He so wanted to, and maybe he should have, but he didn't. Not when he saw Pururu smiling and laughing the way she was. As much as he wanted to, he knew that he could never make her happy like Keroro did. So instead of going in and pulling her away from the boy she liked, he backed up from the door and walked away. He could walk himself home today, it's not like he needed Pururu there.

Pururu was right, She wouldn't always be there to make the hurt go away.


	3. chapter 2

Taruru had always dreamed of being a hero. He wanted to save someone, or better yet, the whole world from a devastating event. He often fantasized about being praised and being held in some sort of reverence for the amazing deeds and heroics that he had done. He wanted to be respected.

Now as he trudged down the street, hanging his head low and avoiding any eye contact from the frogs passing him by with every step, he felt as though he couldn't get any farther from that dream of his. The words of his tormentors bounced around in his head, louder than ever. Above all else, he hated being thought of as useless. Maybe it was because he wanted to be helpful to people, to be thought of as the good-guy. Maybe it was because deep down, Taruru knew it was true.

Taruru never liked it when he had to walk home alone. It was always a long and annoyingly quiet walk and he always ended up mumbling to himself to keep it from getting TOO quiet. Then he always ended up feeling stupid for talking to himself. He felt stupid already for missing Pururu, even though he knew he would just talk to her tomorrow. Tomorrow seemed like a long way away. He hated to admit it, but he did depend on Pururu probably more than anybody else did. She was his only friend.

Walking down in the downtown area was a nice change of pace though, and Taruru loved coming down here whenever he could. The people were lively and there was always something entertaining going on, some kind of event that Taruru could watch for hours and be entertained. Even today all the entertainers that wandered around and the happy people bustling around put a small smile on Taruru's face. Maybe he wouldn't go home just yet. Maybe he would wait around here and try and pull himself out of his bubble of self hate that he had created for himself.

Taruru slowed his walk down, even stopping to listen to one announcer as he spoke to a small crowd that had formed in front of him. Taruru had no clue as to what he was talking about, but he was excited and everything he said seemed to be heartfelt. The crowd was focused solely on him, listening to every word that he head and not thinking that he was a complete idiot for it. Taruru was jealous of him, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Instead he stayed across the street, leaning on a building and trying to figure out what the man was talking about. It seemed like he might have been trying to sell something to these good people. Probably something useless and overpriced, but crowd seemed excited about it, so he guessed that the man was doing his job. Taruru could be fairly gullible sometimes, thinking that he needed things that he saw on TV, but he had learned over the years and he knew he didn't need whatever this guy was trying to sell. Taruru wouldn't buy in to it.

The man continued to talk for a long time, late in to the day and until it started to get more humid and people started to get antsier. He wouldn't be able to keep his crowd for much longer, so he began to wrap up his program. Taruru figured that he might as well stay. It's not like he had anything better to do at home. Homework, dinner and then bed. This seemed better to him, and the humidity made him feel wonderful.

It was late now, and things had started to quiet down downtown. The streets were less crowded and the group of people that had been crowded around the man speaking had begun to dissipate. Taruru would head home soon, now that he had nothing to watch here. He had homework anyway, and he had been putting that off for a day or so and it would be due soon.

The man speaking was done now, packing up a few of his things and answering questions from the few people who remained there after the presentation. Taruru had no questions, because honestly he hadn't been paying attention to what he was saying, simply enjoying the noise that the downtown area always held as opposed to the dead silence of his house. He trudged off, kicking a small rock along the sidewalk and dreading being thrusted in to that silence again.

"Hey...HEY WATCH OUT!" Someone screamed. It sounded like the man who had been speaking to all of those people before, but Taruru never found out. He looked around for anything that could have been coming at him, or to see if he was in the way of something. A few more people screamed and that's when Taruru got scared, but he still didn't know of what.

"DO SOMETHING!"

"CALL THE COPS!"

"_CATCH HIM!" _

Catch him? Catch who? Taruru looked around for any thief or criminal who may have needed to be taken down, but he saw none. He was ready to spring, ready to jump on anyone who needed a beat down. He was more than ready to stop some baddies and prove himself worthwhile to…well…himself!

As he looked around though, it seemed as if everyone was in a panic over nothing. It was only a little dark, so it's not like he had missed anything. Nobody had run past him or committed any crimes that he could see. To him it seemed as if everyone else had gone mental.

"HES GOING TO FALL!"

Now Taruru looked up. He saw what everyone was panicking about, and he felt his own surge of terror go through him. Dangling about 40 feet off the edge of a building was some poor kid hanging on for dear life. He obviously couldn't hold his own weight up for long though, probably only being able to do for this long due to some kind of adrenaline or something like that. It was a great enough drop to the ground that not even his helmet would have helped him. Not without some kind of cushioning.

Instinctively Taruru stuck his arms out as if to catch him. He ran forward to position himself under the tadpole, but before he had even taken the first step he was already falling. Everything was happening so quickly, yet at the same time the world seemed to be going by him in a frame by frame type motion. He knew others were also running to attempt to catch him, but Taruru ignored them, keeping his eyes glued to what he was about to catch just so that he didn't fuck up like he always did and drop it.

The impact was hard. The closest thing Taruru could think to compare it to was if someone had thrown a bowling ball over the edge of a building for him to catch. The only problem was that a bowling ball probably would have been nothing compared to this. His arms were yanked down faster than they had ever been, and a sharp burning pain erupted in his shoulder after a loud pop emitted from it. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to just drop the kid he had caught, but he knew he couldn't do that.

Honestly he didn't even have that good a hold on him though, just barely keeping him from smashing against the concrete. It became apparent that something had gone wrong when the kid began yelling, thrashing about and crying out in agony.

"F-FUCK! MY LEG! **MY LEG**!"

Taruru looked down to see what he was screaming about, and then he actually DID drop him. The sight of the leg made Taruru's stomach do countless flips, and really he did not feel like vomiting all over the guy who had just had his leg broken. Taruru just couldn't handle the sight. Legs should NEVER be in that position. Ever. Even as he turned away, gagging and covering his mouth in an attempt to keep his lunch inside of him, he couldn't get the image of his leg snapped in to that horrid L shape out of his mind. He was just glad that others were surrounding them now, attempting to comfort both him and the kid. Someone even came up to Taruru and patted him on the shoulder.

"You're a hero! You just saved that kids life you know!"

Taruru just shook his head vigorously, shoving the guy away and running a bit down the street to a trashcan, puking up the contents of his stomach in to it, still trying to push the images out of his head. He felt the hands of random strangers patting him on the back, asking him if he was ok while others fetched paramedics and watched over the kid. The same guy from before continue to ramble on about how what he did was incredible, how he was great. Taruru just kept shaking his head no over and over. He KNEW he saved him but…He just couldn't accept that right now. What kind of hero feels like throwing up at an injury?

The paramedics arrived shortly after that. They Ignored Taruru, only taking the one they had been called for. Taruru knew that he probably needed to go too the hospital as well, but there was no way he was going to be getting in that ambulance with him.

He sighed, closing his eyes and thinking for a moment. He saved someone. HE saved someone. It was something he had always wanted to do, but he had never though that today would be the day. It scared the crap out of him, and he was still shaking. Hell he harden been able to handle when he fucked up….but he SAVED someone…..

Maybe he wasn't such a bad hero after all.


	4. Chapter 3

The last thing that Taruru expected after he was released form a fairly short questioning about what had happened was to be interrogated by a cyborg. Really that would have been the last thing he expected on any given day, not that it didn't pass through his mind from time to time and excite him whenever he thought about it.

Taruru had been asked simple questions by the hospital staff. Why he had been where he was, if he had any relation to the patient, if he knew whether or not any foul play had been the cause of the incident, etc. They gave Taruru a bit of information as well, such as how badly his leg was broken and how long they thought it was going to need to be in a cast, which was apparently about 6 or 7 months if he was lucky. They also told Taruru WHO he was. His name was Tororo, a name which Taruru found he rather liked.

After the interview, he had been ushered out of the room and told that he could come visit Tororo at a later time if he wished to. It didn't really make sense to Tororo for a moment, he couldn't really understand why he would want to come visit him. To make sure he was OK yeah but...he didn't know this person. It would be awkward going in there just to say hi. What, was he going to go in there with one of the cheap hospital balloons. He doubted that they had any that read 'Sorry about your leg, your lucky I caught you though!", and even if they did, would it really be appropriate for the situation?

He only stuck around after he had been told to go home to raid the vending machines. Visions of legs bent in ways that they never should still flashed in his mind, but he was determined to get something in his gut before he went home. They may have grossed him out, but he could deal with the mental images.

When Taruru turned around, he only had a split second to see his attacker before he had been lifted up by the neck and slammed in to the snack machine. He dropped his cheese puffs and desperatly scratched at the hand around his neck. The sharp metal claws digging in to his skin made him wince and the painful lack of air made his eyes water.

Taruru had never seen this man. He was one of the most terrifying things Taruru could remember seeing. Half robot, one red eye that seemed to dart about at ever sound. His mouth was covered and that along with the strange bits of fabric dangling from his hat led Taruru to come to the conclusion that this was some sort of assassin.

Oh god, someone wanted him dead! What did he do?!

"What did you do to Tororo?"

Taruru blinked back tears. There were so many thoughts bouncing around in his head, and many of them were honestly thoughts that he shouldn't have been thinking right then, such as 'Wow, he has a really neat voice!' or 'Shit, I just bought those cheese puffs...'. That along with his panicking and restricted amounts of air caused him to be rather to the question he had been asked for a moment. He was promptly reminded of the question when he was pulled away from the snack machine and then slammed back against it.

"What did you DO?!" He demanded, much louder this time.

"c-CAu..." He tried to get the words out, but honestly it just sounded like he was coughing. Choked coughing at that. It seemed to get some kind of message across though, because he was dropped a moment later. He hit the ground hard and groaned in pain. After a few long and shaky breaths, he looked up at the assassin, who was staring him down with a cold glare.

"What was that? You'd better tell me the truth, I don't take kindly to lier's." He spat out coldly, watching as Taruru rubbed at the sore spots on his neck.

"CAUGHT! I caught him OK! He fell off of a building and I just happened to be standing under him!" Taruru held his hands up in some sort of defense, almost expecting a blow that was not going to come.

"Did you see what happened? Did you see anyone up on the building with him?!" He growled out, clenching his fist. Taruru just shook his head, and apparently he seemed innocent enough because the assassin stood up, looking up and down the empty hall. "...If I find out that you had more to do with this than your letting on, you're going to have more to worry about than a crushed windpipe, you hear me?"

His threats were loud and clear, and Taruru had no doubt in him that he would keep them if necessary. This was a man that would kill you if you got on his bad-side, and somehow Taruru seemed to be right on the edge for that.

Taruru watched from the ground as he left, his metallic foot clanging loudly in the strangely empty hallway every other step. Maybe...he wasn't an assassin but...a bodyguard? A bodyguard for Tororo? That just brought up more questions. Who WAS Tororo, and what was Taruru getting himself in to?

* * *

**A shorter chapter to get back in to writing for this story.**


	5. Chapter 4

Taruru had to wait until the next day before he could go to visit Tororo in the hospital. At first he had been against the idea, thinking it would be stupid an awkward, but eventually after thinking it over and talking with Pururu over the phone, he came to the decision that he would go and see him, just once.

Sitting in the waiting room for a frog that you knew basically nothing about was awkward. At one point a woman had taken a seat beside him and asked him who he had come to see. It was weird giving her a name as opposed to saying 'my friend' or something along the lines of that. It only got worse when she gave Taruru a strange look when he simply said 'Tororo', as if she was supposed to know him or something.

He knew he should have waited until visiting hour actually started instead of getting there early. He had already been staring at the clock as he waited for it to be close to time at home, and honestly he should have just waited. At least then he would have been able to sit there and think about what he was going to say to Tororo in the privacy of his own home instead of in some smelly hospital with random strangers questioning his motives for being there.

Pururu had promised to come join him in the hospital when she could to offer him some sort of support. That had been about an hour and half ago, and she still was not here. It was only ten minutes till visiting hour started and he was starting to doubt that she would get here on time. It wasn't a big deal though. He could do this on his own. He just didn't like hospitals or talking to strangers, that didn't mean he couldn't handle those things.

Honestly he didn't know WHY he was even here waiting for visiting hour. Tororo was being discharged from the hospital later the same day. Perhaps he just wanted to apologize to him while he was still trapped in a hospital bed, waiting for the doctors to sign papers that said he could leave. A bit of company to brighten the bleak outlook this entire building just seemed to radiate. He sure hoped Tororo would appreciate it.

When Taruru was following a nurse back in to the rooms where the patients slept or waited for whatever else they had to do during their stay, Taruru peered in to every room he passed even though he knew that the one he was looking for was not waiting for him in there. It was like he expected the nurse to turn around and go back to a room that they had already passed, like she didn't know her way around her own work building.

When she finally pushed a door open and alerted Tororo to the fact that he had a visitor, Taruru just stood back, wringing his hands until she stepped aside, holding the door open for him. He went in and the nurse left the two alone. Tororo had a laptop rested on his lap and he had paused his typing to stare at Tororo, who only stared back awkwardly for a moment.

"Uh...Hi, I just wanted to make sure you were, you know, OK..." Taruru mumbled after a moment, rubbing the back of his neck as he stood near the door.

"...Who are you?" Tororo asked.

"My name's Taruru. I'm the guy wh-..." He started, but Tororo interrupted him.

"Oh, You're the guy who dropped me on my head. Thanks for that." Tororo Muttered.

Taruru Shifted from foot to foot, feeling the tension rising in the room already. Tororo had gone back to typing, the light from the computer reflecting off of his glasses. He left Taruru standing there in silence. Taruru wanted to say something more but he had no idea how to say it.

"...ahem..." Taruru coughed rather pointedly. Tororo looked up at him for a moment, but didn't give him much more than that.

"...What? You want a medal? I mean I guess thanks for not letting my head bounce off the concrete, but I still have a broken leg here." He motioned to the leg that had a cast on it and was slightly elevated with a pillow.

"Well..No but you could say a bit more than that. You could at least tell me what happened..." Taruru said, not letting Tororo's bad attitude get to him. "Like what were you doing up on that building? How did you fall off? Did someone push you?! Oh man it reminds me of this one scene in my comics where-"

"Hey, can you do me a favor and shut up?" Tororo snapped. Taruru promptly shut his mouth. Honestly he hadn't noticed he was even going off on a rant. Just something that happened from time to time. "I was just up there to do some repairs for a friend. The wiring in the sign above his store needed some repairs and I owed him a favor. Nobody pushed me off or anything like that."

"Oh..." Taruru went a bit quiet for a moment before speaking up again. "Some cyborg asked me about it yesterday...I can tell him that if he starts freaking out again, right?"

"You mean Zoruru? He shouldn't bother you at all. The doctors let him in earlier this morning and I calmed him down...He was just a bit worried about me." Tororo said, snickering a bit to himself. "The idea of him freaking out because I got hurt is hilarious. Of course I would miss the one time he decides to show emotion."

"He a friend of your's?" Taruru asked.

"Or something close to that. We have known each other for years, and he likes to act like I am nothing more than his mechanic to him, but hes full of bullshit. He cares about me, just wont admit it to anyone outside our small group of friends." Tororo shrugged a bit, acting as if he didn't care what others actually felt about him. Taruru was actually a bit envious of that.

"But...He will take care of you right? You will be fine after you leave the hospital?"

"Oh look at that, you barely know me and you already care for me. How cute." Tororo shot Taruru a toothy grin that just served to agitate Taruru. Taruru made a face he others often called his 'cranky fish face'. He never appreciated it when they called it that, but he could never stop them.

"You KNOW what I meant." Taruru huffed, crossing his arms.

"Of course I did." He snickered. "Yeah, Zoruru's gonna help me out, when he can anyway. He is a busy guy after all, Most assassins are." Tororo said, but his mood seemed to drop in an instant after that. "Its going to be hell for me...I am gonna be stuck in this cast for a few months at least, and I just DON'T have time to deal with something like this. I knew something like this was going to happen though..."

"I think your repair jobs can wait until after your healed up, don't you think?" Taruru said, glancing over the cast on Tororo's leg and feeling more and more guilty about this whole ordeal, even though he had done absolutely nothing wrong.

"Fuck the repair jobs, I couldn't care less about those. I'm...on a bit of a deadline, for this project I am working on. I know I can do it in my state but...its gonna take longer, and I REALLY don't want to waste any more time on it than I have to."

"Is it really important?" Taruru asked. It was hard to imagine someone as young as Tororo doing something incredibly important. He imagined that it would be something that would change the world for the better. He had read things like that in his comics, and he had grown up idolizing children like that.

"Its the most important thing I will do in all my life." He grinned. "Its a personal project though, so you wouldn't care."

"Of course I care!" Taruru snapped. It seemed to surprise Tororo a bit, but he didn't say anything. "And if its that important to you, and if your cyborg buddy cant help you...well maybe I can?"

"No." Tororo said bluntly.

"No?" Taruru didn't know what he was expecting, but a simple 'no' was not it.

"No. The last thing I need is some kid trying to help me because he feels bad about not being able to keep me from busting my leg. Its not your fault though. I know I said you didint really deserve anything earlier, but you do. If it wasn't for you I would be dead right now, so thanks. I can't ask you for anymore than you have already given me."

Taruru had no idea how to feel. He felt slightly ecstatic at the thank you he had just recived, but he still could not help but feel bad about the situation Tororo was in with his leg right now. "But...I want to help..."

"No you don't, trust me. You don't want to get mixed up in the mess I'm in right now, OK? It's going to end badly for everyone involved." Tororo muttered.

"Then why are you involved?" Taruru asked.

"I don't have a choice."

Taruru opened his mouth to say something else, but a doctor came in. He looked between the two, and then down at the papers he held in his hand.

"Tororo, Its time for you to go. We looked everything over, and there is nothing more we can do for you here... The femur in your left leg, and as you know those take quite a long time to heal..." The doctor said, flipping through the papers.

"Just give it to me. How long am I going to be stuck in this cast? Tororo demanded.

"It could be anywhere from three to four months. It all just depends really. Add on another month or two for rehab so that your walking is not affected..." The doctor said.

Tororo groaned and let his head fall back against the pillow he was leaning on. Both Taruru and the Doctor let him have a moment to think to himself, and he seemed rather grateful for it. "Of course its going to be that long. I'm going to be stuck in this cast forever..." He let out a shaky chuckle and stared up at the ceiling.

"Its...Not that bad. I'm sure it will pass by fast. Maybe you can get an extension on your deadline?" Taruru asked, trying to lighten the mood. Tororo didn't respond though. He only looked away from them, staring out the window and refusing to look at anything but that. After only a few moments of silence the doctor pulled Taruru towards the door, leading him out and insisting that Tororo needed some time to rest and think about what he was going to do in his situation.

"Whats wrong with him?" Taruru asked the doctor, staring at the ground as he was led out of the building

"Well, Hes on several medications to keep him relaxed and to keep the soreness down. It could simply be an emotional reaction to the medication. That mixed with the stress of breaking a leg, well I'm not shocked at his reaction to the whole situation." The doctor explained. He didn't go in to detail since he figured Taruru would not know the names of different medicines and their chemical reactions. Taruru was actually a bit glad for that.

"He will be fine though right?"

"Of course. In a few days he will be back to his normal, cranky self. " He gave Taruru a comforting smile and a pat on the shoulder.

"Are you a friend of his?" He asked.

"No, I'm just a doctor. He comes here with his half robot friend quite often, mainly for check-ups to make sure nothing has turned fatal. People in a situation like that are easily susceptible to lethal damage you know." The Doctor explained, shoving his hands in to the pockets on his doctors jacket.

"Yeah..." Taruru mumbled. He could easily picture how terrifying Zoruru had been. Metal fused to flesh...it looked like he was in constant pain. He briefly wondered how complicated it would be to do checkups on a half cyborg, half organic creature, but he managed to keep the train of thoughts from the various super villains he had read about in comics that had combined themselves with various robotic parts.

"Try not to worry about Tororo very much, he will be fine as far as his leg goes. He is being released later today, and you can see him then." The Doctor came to a stop in front of the exits, patting Taruru on the back before he left.

Taruru didn't know how to really feel about that. He wished that he had been able to get more information, such as WHEN exactly Tororo was being released. Taruru hardly knew him, but he felt that he should at least be there when he got out of the hospital. Despite what Tororo had said to him, he felt bad, and he wanted to make it up to Tororo somehow. HE doubted he would be able to help him with his project, especially after Tororo had refused him several times in the span of less than a minute, but he wanted to try and help him in any other way he could. He couldn't help feel responsible for him at this point.


End file.
